11/19/08

Those who sell real estate recall those heady days just a few years ago, when competition over the best homes on the market - known as "showcase properties" - was robust. Multiple bids were common, and eager buyers submitted contract offers stripped of all conditions, such as the right to a home inspection.

Indeed, some buyers were so anxious to beat rival bidders in the race to own an attractive home that they would snap it up without even visiting first, recalls Tom Early, a real-estate broker and former president of the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents (www.naeba.org).

Nowadays, the tables are turned. In many neighborhoods, buyers have lots of leverage, and motivated sellers, including the corporate owners of homes taken back through foreclosure, are compelled to bargain with prospects. The sellers of showcase homes, known as "cream puffs," are no exception. "At a time when buyers are incredibly demanding, you must be absolutely realistic about the market," Early says.

Here are pointers for the sellers of homes with exceptional allure:

• Select a listing agent with a good eye.

"If your house is spectacular, you want visuals to show just how good it looks," says Dorcas Helfant, a former president of the National Association of Realtors (www.realtor.org).

Visuals include photos for print advertising and video for online listings, including the "virtual tours" that have become a popular home-marketing tool in cyberspace.

As Helfant notes, more agents are taking classes in digital photography, and more are producing the sort of professional-quality visuals that home sellers need to compete, especially in neighborhoods with many homes for sale.

• Don't expect too much of a pricing premium.

Is the property you're selling decked out with several features that excite buyer interest, such as fine wood cabinets, granite countertops, floor-to-ceiling windows and a fireplace in the master suite? Does it also have 10-foot ceilings throughout? If so, you may be tempted to ask a lot more than your neighbors are asking for similar-size properties that lack such fancy features.

But Helfant cautions against attaching too high a premium when pricing your showcase home, no matter how fancy or well-kept it is.

"Given today's competitive markets, where available properties abound, I wouldn't go more than 3 to 5 percent over other like homes in your community, even the ones that don't show nearly as well," she says.

• Consider a neighborhood open house for the public.

Real-estate experts often downplay the value of public open houses as a means of attracting the interest of serious purchasers. They say most open-house visitors are curious neighbors or "wishful buyers" who lack the means to go through with a purchase. On the other hand, well-qualified buyers are typically guided through homes by their agents.

But Helfant says there's a way to increase the impact of the public open house conducted for your showcase property: Encourage other sellers in the neighborhood to hold open houses on the same day, thereby increasing your potential draw.

"Ask your listing agent to contact the agents representing all the other sellers. The more the merrier when it comes to open houses. With more homes open, the greater the chance that serious prospects will come by, with or without their agents," Helfant says.

A neighborhood open house can be especially beneficial for the sellers of showcase homes because buyers can quickly compare all the places they see.

• Don't second-guess yourself on your plans to sell.

Many owners of showcase homes are ambivalent about letting go of their properties in a market where bargain shoppers have so much clout. Even after they've put their place up for sale, they wonder if they should pull the place off the market until they can get a better price.

Before retreating, Early urges you to take into account the personal and financial implications of postponing your sale.

"Maybe your neighborhood market could stage a huge rebound within one to two years. But you should also consider all the ways you might lose out by waiting," Early says.

"Postponing your hopes and dreams for a better housing situation means you could be missing that once-in-a-lifetime chance to buy your fantasy property at a major discount," he says.